Appeals court delivers defeat to killer with mental illness

Isaac Zamora decried changes in state law that affected his custody

Lynsi Burton
| on March 6, 2017

Photo: Department Of Corrections Photo

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In the eight years since he killed six people, Isaac Zamora has fought to remain hospitalized for his schizophrenia, even as the legislaturehas twice changed the rules in apparent efforts to move him to

In the eight years since he killed six people, Isaac Zamora has fought to remain hospitalized for his schizophrenia, even as the legislaturehas twice changed the rules in apparent efforts to move him to prison.

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Isaac Zamora appears before Judge Warren Gilbert during Friday's complaint, part of motion for a warrant to keep the suspect in jail. (Matt Wallis / Skagit Valley Herald)

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Washington state troopers and a Skagit County sheriff's deputy lead Isaac Zamora to the county jail Tuesday afternoon. Zamora is suspected of leading authorities on a high-speed chase from Alger to Mount VernonWashington state troopers and a Skagit County sheriff's deputy lead Isaac Zamora to the county jail Tuesday afternoon. Zamora is suspected of leading authorities on a high-speed chase from Alger to Mount Vernon and a shooting rampage that left six dead and four injured. (Scott Terrell / Skagit Valley Herald)

In the latest chapter of an eight-year saga, a convicted Skagit County killer who has continually fought for his right to be hospitalized for his mental health issues was rejected once again Monday in his bid to avoid staying in prison.

Isaac Zamora killed six people and injured four more in Alger, Washington, in 2008 during a psychotic episode. However, he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him except two of the murders, to which he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The plea agreement allowed Zamora to go to Western State Hospital, where he intended to stay for the rest of his life for treatment. But, in a move meant to prevent him from ever being freed, the agreement also allowed for Zamora to be transferred to prison should he be released from the mental hospital.

Since then, he's been a hot potato between the state Department of Social and Health Services, the agency that oversees Western State, and the Department of Corrections, which manages the prison system.

Zamora now is housed in a special offender unit, monitored around the clock, at the state prison in Monroe. He is, however, still a ward of the Department of Social and Health Services, which has repeatedly petitioned for his transfer to Department of Corrections custody.

The state Court of Appeals decision issued Monday addressed an order by Skagit County Superior Court in 2015 that allowed Zamora to be handed over to DOC custody. The order came with the condition that he remain in the special offender unit until two psychiatrists involved in his care both recommended his transfer to another DOC facility and that DOC assign a psychiatrist to monitor Zamora's care.

Zamora appealed the order, saying it violated the terms of his 2009 plea agreement. Amendments to state law since his guilty pleas changed the conditions under which he could stay at Western State and made it easier for DSHS to shuffle him to DOC.

While Zamora initially had to petition for his own release from Western State at the time of his pleas -- which he had no intention of doing -- the new state laws allowed DSHS to petition for a charge's release and only had to prove that a person could be managed in a prison setting for that petition to be granted.

For its own part, DOC objected to the order because it was not a party to the proceedings leading to the order and the court did not have jurisdiction over the agency in its decision.

Monday's decision both rejected Zamora's argument and agreed that the trial court in Skagit County had no authority to impose conditions on DOC for Zamora's transfer. In doing so, the decision was handed back to the trial court to determine whether he can be discharged to DOC without any conditions.

Zamora, his family and his legal representatives have argued that he belongs in a place where he can receive intensive mental health care. However, DSHS and Western State repeatedly argued that Zamora suffers a personality disorder that cannot be treated in a mental health facility -- even as early as one month into his Western State detainment.

"(M)any of the challenging behaviors described by his treatment team are primarily due to his anti-social personality disorder, which is not a mental disease or defect for which the hospital can provide treatment," read a Western State progress report to the court in 2011.

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Expert testimonies in various court hearings disputed that finding, with one claiming he also suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

Various authorities claim that Zamora's condition is under control while at the special offenders unit in prison, but attorney Nancy Collins with the Washington Appellate Project said Monday that a full discharge to DOC could remove him from the 24-hour watch and intensive care to which he's now subjected. He is the only inmate she knows of receiving such unique attention. That change in custody conditions could lead to a change in mental health.

"He remains certainly in the same precarious situation psychologically and legally as he has been for a long time," Collins said. "It's certainly something we remain very concerned about."

She is not yet sure whether attorneys will file a motion for reconsideration on Zamora's behalf.

Dennise Zamora, Isaac's mother, was disappointed, but not surprised, by Monday's decision. She wanted a resolution to the dual guilty-not guilty conundrum in which her son found himself.

"It was not just for Isaac, it was for anybody else who finds himself in this catch-22 situation," Dennise Zamora said.